Feedback #4 - research assessment

Well done - I'm very happy to see that you have already had a successful shoot!

Research assessment: Planning

As a group you are working through the challenges of your concept effectively. Casey and Rosie; your research is to a very high standard, particularly use of critical theory and you are currently working at a high A grade level (19/20). Josh – I know that you have played an integral part in the concept development throughout the project and your contributions to the pitch were excellent, yet as it stands at time of marking, there is not evidence of you using the blog collaboratively to document the ideas development, or go beyond the minimum research (still significant research contributions missing – I have seen message below. You will need to post all missing work by end of Monday 1st Nov). As a consequence at the moment you planning grade is a L3 –(13/20 ). General feedback:

• Focused, relevant research from all 3
• At this stage, time management very good
• Ideas communicated very effectively on blog – excellent use of ICT
• Pitch very thorough, although too text heavy – rely more on your verbal communication skills in presentations
• Use of recces as a planning tool has been very effective in beginning to resolve issues with concept

Key points for securing A grade planning:

• Audience research findings need a clear evaluation of results with a link to concept development
• storyboard sketches - take photos and upload to show progress towards animatic
• Comment more on posts – this is a way for ALL group members to be involved in discusson and collaboration and to show that you are reading each other’s research
• Josh – you need to be more pro-active on the blog and complete outstanding tasks
  
  
  
  

RC - Mrs Fernandez...

Here is a list of the posts that I have amended/added since the half term:

• Pitch evaluation
• Hastings reccie evaluation
• Analysis of an album cover
• Evaluation of our filming this holiday
• Resolving problems, continued (2)

I think that is all except from at the moment I am uploading our pitch to slideboom so that I can post it on the blog, but I am still waiting for it to upload but hopefully it will be done very soon.

When we get back to school we still need to add our reccie footage, so hopefully we can show that to you early next week...

CH - Half term work

Miss, I am unable to access the school email from my home computer (apparently my session has run out? some technical fault) so here are the changes i have made to my posts. on saturday i'm going to delete this post, it's just to save you scrolling through 70 odd posts. thanks miss

-digipack ideas
-filming the first sequence
-band shots reccie
-analysis of an indie text (1)
-analysis of an indie text (2)
-analysis of representation and ideology

Also miss Mason just texted me to tell you he is unable to access the internet because his computer is broken, he is doing the work that can be done off computer (getting digipack stuff and magazine, etc) and he is very sorry

CH - Digipack ideas

During concept development, Josh had a brilliant idea as to the design of our digipack, to take influence from one of indie artist Jamie T's album covers.

However, whilst doing further research I began to investigate other ideas as back up should our original idea fall through. I looked into clothing, conventions, lighting and coupled with the research of my peers we have a well-rounded knowledge of indie culture.

To the left is a photograph that was taken by one of my colleagues last week as she found the layout particularily interesting. She showed it to me, as three of the characters present in the photograph are in our music video, and thought I would be interested in it. I immediately loved this photograph; the aesthetics are excellent, heavy with connotations and iconography that are only present by chance, therefore I was very excited as to how a finished piece would look had we set it up purposefully.

The photograph above has been made brighter, with less colour saturation and slightly higher contrast than usual; I completed these changes with the prior knowledge of photo manipulation that we explored last year. Below is another manipulation of the same image.

The photograph to the right has been made brighter, the midtones made darker, the contrast made significantly higher and the colour saturation at near maximum.

I made these changes to both images using fairly rudimentary software, Microsoft Image Manager. Upon returning to school, I may begin work in software such as Adobe Photoshop, within which I am far more comfortable as well as being granted far more freedom.

To the left is a quick sketch I made of the 'Good Boy' (centre shot); as we have two art students in our group, maybe something we could look into is the use of graphic design in our digipack idea. However, with the wonderful software we have available to us, we should be able to achieve similar results using editing techniques.

I shall discuss this digipack idea with my colleagues as we further our concept during filming.

CH - Analysis of an Indie Text (2)

Analysis of an indie text -

Hard Fi: Cash Machine

Step One

The words present on the album cover are "Hard-Fi Cash Machine" and some illegible graffitti. The iconic signs present are the graffitti. The non-representational graphics present is the image of a cash machine.

Step Two

The signs relate to one another in many ways; there is no juxtaposition from text to image, quite the opposite; they are being blatantly obvious in their amplification of the title 'Cash machine' with an image of a cash machine. The signs relate by being 'ordinary' in nature; one would expect to pass a cash machine with graffitti near it in any urban location in Britain, and therefore they construct an urban signifier. This is a shared cultural sign, another example would be a red phone box. This connotes a sense of British patriotism, or ironically so. They signify a product that is recent, lower or working class, un-hampered with an idealistic view on society by including the vandalism and not including any form of traditional 'art work' or advertising means.

Step Three

The social myths that this draws upon are postmodernism; the theory that you construct your identity through what you consume, yet in a way that contrasts to this; Hard-Fi are being purposefully redundant and absent, reinforcing the indie culture that there are no rules. Therefore, by consuming this product you are also rebellious, creating an image of yourself that is indie and urban with an ironic view on capitalist society. There are many other audience readings, however, to the formula of the signs; another reading could be that Hard-Fi are in fact conforming to some pop culture stereotypes by anchoring themselves with images of an urban location. The blatant amplification of 'Cash machine' with an image thus could be construed as being amusing as well as rebellious, another key icon from indie culture.

RC - Beginning filming for our music video

This Monday just gone Casey, Josh and I all took part in the first real shooting for our music video, where we filmed the 'good girl' and the 'bad girl' sequences.

It was our aim to film these sequences at night time as we had learnt from our previous reccies that this time of day best suited the concept of our video and more particularly the general tone and mood of a youth-based/indie-rock music video like we hoped ours to be.

We decided that we would start filming at Casey's house, which we concluded would be the location for the 'good girl's' home, as the house appears to be one of which belongs to someone of reasonable wealth (due to it being a detached-terraced house, of quite a large size); a profile that we wanted for this particular character.

Once we had all arrived and were prepared for filming we thought our best plan of action would be to start outside because we still needed some lighting to aid reasonable visibility in the shots otherwise it would become too late and therefore too dark. We went onto film the section where the 'good girl' leaves her house and gets into her car; we tried to capture the same shots from different angles and to use different camera movements with the aim of having a variety of footage.

After the completion of this particular section we decided next to film inside Casey's house with the intention of recording the part where the 'good girl' is getting ready, so that we could use these as filler shots for the beginning sequence as a part of a montage sequence.

Once we felt that we had a feasible amount of footage for this part, with a good range of camera angles and movements, we drove to our next location, which would be Josh's house in Edenbridge, where we would use it as a setting for the 'bad girl'. Here we filmed the 'bad girl' leaving her house and joining the 'good girl' in the car. We chose this location because it contrasted quite nicely to the good girls house, a contrast that was needed to establish each character's profile.

In both the 'good girl' and 'bad girl' sequences it was our purpose to also film shots that included the lead singer, where he (Josh) would be singing along to the song using first person mode of address, and would act invisible to the characters that are also in the video.

Evaluation:

I think that for our first shoot it did go reasonably well as we did manage to film the footage that we set out to, whilst constantly referring to our storyboard, which proved to be invaluable to us. However, we did face some difficulties, which is to be expected.

I had looked at the weather forecast prior to shooting so that we could prepare for any weather contingencies, and although it was expected to rain, if only drizzle, it turned out that there was no rain at all, this was obviously very beneficial for us. Therefore in this respect the weather did not pose a problem for us. On the other hand, one difficulty that was always going to cause problems for us was how far we all lived from each other. To get from where I live to where Casey lives it takes between 40-45 minutes driving and that is only if the traffic is not too bad and to then travel from Casey's to Josh's it takes a further 20 minutes. This was obviously not a desirable fact for us, as it meant we did have to spend money on transport whilst also wasting valuable time. This ended up causing a few issues due to the fact that we did want to film at night and although I left at a reasonable time of quarter to five in the hopes of getting to Casey's for half past five I did unfortunately encounter traffic due to it being rush hour. This meant that I didn't reach Casey's until six because I also had to fill up on petrol to ensure we had enough for the journeys we needed to make for our filming. Therefore once we eventually made it outside to begin shooting the lighting was not perfect because although it wasn't completely dark we still did not have enough light to capture shots of high enough visibility, this then meant we had to waste time finding a torch in order to use that to provide better lighting. We had hoped that maybe the use of the car lights would aid clearer visibility but the position that we wanted the car in made it impossible for the lights to have any real impact. Despite this we did manage to record a good number of shots that followed our storyboard as well as a few extras so that we could use them as filler shots if needed.

Once we had made it to Josh's house to film there we realised that there is indeed a light on the camera itself, and therefore after making this discovery we felt rather stupid but also relieved that lighting would no longer be an issue because by this point it was completely pitch black. It was at this location that I felt that we all really came into our own with the filming and acting as we had all become a bit more relaxed and comfortable enough to perform in front of the camera. This then meant that we were coming up with a few more ideas, creatively and conceptually and it is here that I feel our camera work was at its best.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of this shooting as I believe that we came up with enough shots to start compiling our music video but also because I did enjoy myself and I felt that everyone in my group worked well together as it is apparent that we all want the same thing; for our music video to be successful.

(Pictures to be added once back at school...)

CH - Filming the first sequences

On Monday of this week, Rosie, Josh and I began the filming for our final product. We all thoroughly enjoyed this task; overall it took nearly two hours, including footage from two locations to be edited for the first 30 seconds of our track. The first 30 seconds mainly concern the two female characters and the lead singer, so we were able to film with just the three of us present. This made organization far simpler than if we were to include the other 2 characters or 3 band members, even though Rosie, Josh and I live almost 40 miles apart in 3 towns.
Method and Troubleshooting
We began filming at my house, the location for the 'good girls' home scenes. These went almost without a hitch, although we found that the lighting outside was too poor to shoot some of the car sequence, so we decided to film that at a different location. We had been worried about Josh's ability and confidence in lip synching, but we were happy to find this wasn't a problem; playing the track from his mobile phone as he sang to it, we were guaranteed perfect timing. The photograph top left is a shot of Josh in the car; we were experimenting with lighting, and decided that we needed to film earlier in the day or in a more brightly lit location then Edenbridge, even for minor scenes of <5 seconds. However, this said, I might discuss the possibilty of adding this shot in the montage scenes for lighting effects, as it is very aesthetically pleasing.
In conclusion
The filming was very productive, and we accomplished much of what we planned to. Once we edit the clips we have, we should almost have finished the first 30 seconds or so.

CH - Band shots reccie

Yesterday at lunch, Rosie, Josh and I gathered our band together for the first rehearsal in the form of a reccie.

We aimed to establish if our band worked well together; The Enemy have a very distinctive group dynamic that we wish to emulate, and to do so we need to ensure our own band works as a team.
As a group, we met in the drama studio; we did not consider costume or any larger aspects of mise en scene, besides basic props, because at this time in planning detail is unneccesary. We arranged the group as they will be in the film and took a series of shots, including CU, ECU, MS, LS, and considering panning/other forms of movement throughout.

What we have learnt thus
After half an hour or so, we begun to become accostomed to the practicalities and limitations of our scenario; for instance, the performance has to be believable and in-synch, something difficult to achieve without the song present. To the left was our most succesful shot; a low angle ms featuring sillhouette effect lighting. This gave a very pleasing overall effect, as well as being quite easy to shoot. We wanted to give our video an amateur but not 'shabby' appearance, in accordance to genre-specific ideology such as the juxtaposition of indie culture to the theories surrounding popular culture. For instance, the lack of Star image being created in indie videos suggesting they are purposefully denying the advertising elements of music videos, instead preferring to consider each video as art, without huge corporate-backed budgets. With this in mind, we also had to consider the 'family' effect that indie bands create around their band members; in accordance to our research, even if the bands themselves aren't present in performance pieces, they build a very relatable scenario, containing narrative fuzz that the audience are able to compare their own lives to (aiming for verisimiltude) so our performers had to act comfortable with one-another, as an 'ordinary band' would do, had they not reached celebrity status. This relates to the theory of being present yet absent, ordinary yet extraordinary; in this way, indie bands conform to some popular culture ideology, by doing things like breaking the 4th wall to appear 'present' to the audience. Thinking about this, we structured the shot above to resemble an 'ordinary' band, yet in a scenario with connotations of power and celebrity status (as they appear to be performing in a stadium, as the audience would read from the iconic row of staging lights.) In conclusion, the band reccie was considered very successful, and we are left with a good idea of the end aesthetics our video will encompass.

RC - Resolving problems, continued (2)

Researching on how to produce performance shots of great effect...

In our music video we are wanting to include a number of band shots and therefore to do this effectively I felt that researching into the types of shots other bands use would be a useful tool. When in class one member of my group suggested that we all looked at a video that had been produced by a group from another school doing the same course as us. It was a music video to the song 'Astronauts and all' by the Foals, which proved to be a useful video to look at, in particular the array of shots being used. Whilst looking at the video I print screened a number of shots that stood out to me and of which my group could draw inspiration from when filming our performance shots.

ECU of finger tapping keyboard (0.04)

ECU of symbol (0.09)

ECU of foot tapping pedal (0.12)

Meat shot of lead singer (0.46)

Meat shot of lead singer with an out of focus image of guitarist in the background (0.53)

Feedback #2

Excellent work reflecting on creative process so far. Your pitch is evidence of how thorough your research has been and I am very positive about the potential of your concept. It is good to see you reflecting as a group on your dynamics so far and identifying ways to take it forward.

I would like to see some specific ideas now on things such as photo montage (josh?) and band performance.

RC - Pitch evaluation

...developing from the post: 'Group - Pitch evaluation'

We pitched our concept to our teacher on Thursday in order to gain the 'green light' and after doing so I feel that we did succeed in pitching a concept that showed evidence of detailed research and cohesive development work that showed a clear, thorough build up of all of our thoughts and ideas.

Presenting our pitch allowed us to recognise the problems that we still faced with our concept so that we could address them in order to diminish the 'vague' areas.

Problems with our pitch:

Our teacher felt that when pitching we all seemed to be under a lot stress and therefore interjected each other when talking. This is a view that I share because I do feel that we were all under strain because in the build up to our pitch all three of us had had absences, which obviously had an impact on the development of our pitch. I do not feel that these absences caused any of us to do less work, as I do feel that we did plenty enough to create a detailed pitch, however, it was the fact that we were not together for the most past of the production of our pitch and were therefore working individually, which meant that when it came to the presentation we were all a bit disorganised; ending up with two separate presentations. This was not at all beneficial to any of us as it meant that our pitch did not run as smoothly as it could have done, but it also made it harder to engage our teacher who had to interject on a few occasions; making our presentation very disjointed.

Areas that need to be addressed:

From our teacher's feedback it is clear that out of class communication is one particular area that needs be addressed, as working cohesively as a group is the best way to produce a music video which is successful. It is clear that we all want to do well with our music video but maybe this could be seen as a disadvantage as our drive to succeed may force the group to divide.

One other problem area that we need to devote our efforts to is our choice of location for the car sequence and although we went on a number of reccies to help solve this problem our car sequence location is still unknown. We came to the conclusion that Hastings and Tonbridge may not be the best suited locations for our video if we are hoping to achieve a professional look.

How we are going to address these areas:

In terms of communication it is evident that we need to spend more time together outside of the classroom in order to make sure we are constantly working together in the development of our music video. We have only ever been on one of the reccies altogether, out of the four we have been on, already this suggests where our problems underlie. In order to make sure this does not happen again we all need to be prepared for giving up some of our own time so that we can all work together because I feel that this is the best way to improve communication. Delegation is also key in bettering our group, as our competitiveness as individuals makes it seem easier for us to just work independently to get the work done but this is not the case. Instead of us all doing a lot of work so to ensure all areas are covered just in case one person does not complete one particular area, we need to communicate so that we clearly know who is doing what and to ensure that no section is repeated. This means that we should all be prepared to delegate because when you are in a group you can not always have control all of the time.

When it comes to choosing a location for our car sequence it is evident that we need to go on another reccie, we have concluded that Brighton may be a possibility because we have already visited this location earlier on but this time round we would have our concept in mind.

Group - Planning: Storyboarding

Why is storyboarding useful?
Storyboarding is useful in many ways. Firstly, it enables you to place the ideas that you have in your head, into its first visual representation. This is good because storyboarding becomes a good middle step between an idea, and the filming of the idea. It allows you to gain some sort of knowledge on what will work, and what won't. Storyboarding also allows you to see in which order your list of shots will fit, by doing this you are able to structure your music video, which enables you to plan when to shoot, and what shots to film on that particular shoot. This is essential for our group because we need to be able to tell the other people involved in our video when we need them, and to find out if they are available or not. Storyboarding is also a technical activity, which is needed to make sure we have a large range of interesting shots. A music video needs to be more than just 10 mid-shots in a row, or else it would be boring, therefore it is essential that we include a variety of camera shots, movements and angles. We need this process in order to keep the audience's attention for the whole time that the music video runs as sustaining enigma is key for a music video to be successful.

Last year's process (Josh)
For my coursework last year I was in a different group, and therefore it is important for me to bring in some ideas from what we did in our storyboarding process, and also what I learnt from last year's storyboarding. In our storyboarding, Adam and I sat down together, with the list of shots that we had planned and together we drew and annotated all of our storyboarding. This was a good technique in my opinion because we were able to get all our ideas clear together so that there was no vagueness in our shots, and that both of us understood what we wanted to do. However, from doing this I have found out that it is also a long process, and therefore we would need to consider to break up the task of storyboarding in my new group, as we will have far more shots to storyboard for the music video than we had to for our film opening at AS-level.

Last year's process (Rosie and Casey)
For our coursework last year Casey and I were in a separate group to josh, and for that reason I think it is essential that all three of us evaluate how we did last year when constructing our own storyboards and to then bring this knowledge together for the one that we are all doing together this year. In order to produce a storyboard that is visually effective and efficient in terms of clearly outlining what type of shot we are doing and in what order, we should all bring together our methods of creating a storyboard that fits this description.

The process of mine and Casey's storyboarding last year consisted of:

• brainstorming together to help further clarify and cement our concept;
• once agreed we decided on who was going to do each particular section (i.e I did the first 10 frames, Casey did the next 10 and so on...)
• we then put our separate storyboarding together to see if the outcome was of a clear and an effective standard.

I do feel that this process did work to our advantage, as both Casey and I had a clear image in mind of what we wanted our film's opening sequence to look like, in relation to specific shots, etc. This element of confidence made it easy for Casey and I to divide out the jobs and to work independently. However, this year we are producing a music video, which in terms of storyboarding is a lot more complex, mainly because of the vast amount of shots that are needed to fill the time and the fast cutting rate of a music video. Due to this I feel that the process of storyboarding and how we are going to approach this task is one that is not going to be easy, which means that if we are going to follow the same method of constructing a storyboard that Casey and I did last year we all need to know clearly what is we are doing or otherwise it will not work. Communication will be key in clarifying any vague areas, as there are still some minor gaps in our concept. These gaps will be clearly evident in our storyboard if we do not fix them, as a music video is not like a film opening, where it is easier to get away with a less detailed storyboard. For this video we need to ensure we know what type of shots we are doing and how long for because it is essential that we fill the time of the length of our music track.

(Add picture of our storyboard practice work and eventually add animatic)

RC - Future plans

After being given the green light for our music video after presenting our pitch, we have now made plans on what we are going to do next. With half term coming up in only a week we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take out the camera equipment and to get started with our filming, however, we do need to storyboard our concept first. Therefore, this next week coming up it is our aim to complete an efficient storyboard that clearly outlines our concept, with a range of camera shots, movements, and angles, which reflect the planning and research we have been doing before hand. It would be ideal if we began our filming at the very beginning of our half term so to ensure that we have enough time to gather a good amount of footage and to obviously to practice and experiment further. If we do not start early then it may be that after having completed our filming we realise that what we have captured is not all of a good enough standard and therefore have made it more difficult for us, as time will be running out. We have decided that the scenes that we are going to film over the half term are going to be the ones that only include us, allowing us to ease in to filming without the unwanted hassle of making sure everyone is there, this is also because we have not found a location for one part of our video, therefore restricting us on what we can film. This has meant that we have also had to plan on doing another location reccie, which we are also going to do over the half term.

Group - Pitch Evaluation

We pitched our concept on 14th October to Mrs Fernandez and Mr Fiveash. Overall we feel that the pitch all went well and we produced some very good ideas, which were all presented in a confident manor. There were a few minor problems that we had, a lack of communication prior to the pitch meant that we had two seperate presentations for all the infomation and all feeling stressed, in some parts of our presentation we kept talking over each other. However, Mrs Fernandez felt that we had a good, well planned and structured concept and agreed to sign off our pitch so that we could make a start on storyboarding and filming.

A couple of problems were higlighted that needed to be addressed:

• We need to decide where to film our shots in the car. Mrs Fernandez felt that the video would look better if we found somewhere with bright lights and a pumping nightlife. To address this we plan to go on more reccies to such places as Brighton to find a good location.
• Out of class communication was highlighted as a possible problem. Mrs Fernandez felt that Casey was the middle point of communication between the group. To address this issue we are going to spend time as a group in frees, luchtimes and on reccies so that we begin to function better as a group.

RC - Pitch

Media - pitch presentation part 1

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Media - pitch presentation part 2

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Media - powerpoint presentation part 3

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RC - Reccie (2) evaluation

HASTINGS

On Monday night Casey and I went on a filming reccie to Hastings in order to gather more footage and to practice filming our car sequence again. Although we have already been to Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells to do this, these two locations were primarily done so that we could practice a wide range of camera shots, angles and movements and even though they did give us some indication as to the sort of location we want for this particular sequence, location wasn't our top priority.

However, this specific reccie to Hastings location was key, as we felt that Hastings would be perfect as a setting that represents youth and night life, due to the number of pubs, arcades, clubs and its well lit up streets. Therefore our focus point was to use these areas to practice and gather a collection of character shots to aid character profiles. We also thought that we could play around with our album cover idea in order to aid our digipak development.

We had high hopes for Hastings as we really believed that this could be a perfect location for our car sequence but also for shots of the characters all out together and having a good time. However, after completing this reccie, we were disappointed.

When we first arrived in Hastings we decided that we had done enough interior shots of the car and that this would be the perfect opportunity to experiment with external shots. From our continuous concept development we had a few clear shots in mind, one particular iconic shot we came up with was of the 'bad girl' walking down a street holding a pair of stilettos and therefore we completed this shot first. After doing so, we were reasonably happy with the outcome, although we thought the setting in which we carried out this shot was not the best, as lighting proved to be a problem. This confused both Casey and I as we both pictured Hastings as being a well lit location, which is why we chose the promenade for this shot.

However, after this initial disappointment we decided to carry on with our hope still intact, and therefore thought that the beach would be perfect for exploring our digipak album cover. Once we had captured a number of pictures for the album cover we moved closer into town in the hopes that the lighting would be a lot better there. It was then that we noticed the arcades and decided that filming in there could work really well as it was obviously well-lit and provided an atmosphere of playful youth. After recording in this setting and taking a lot of photos we concluded that the arcades could in fact work well in our video. Whilst filming we ensured that we also included a range of shots, using low-angles, high-angle shots, panning and pedding shots, including a 360 pan.

After exhausting this particular setting we moved again so to film more outside shots, where we focused on character profiles, in particular the good and the bad girl. When I

was filming I felt that a lot of shots were too posed and construed and therefore I secretly filmed Casey when she was oblivious, this proved to work well as I managed to capture shots that provided a realistic interpretation of youths having a 'good time'.

We then made our way back to where the car was parked and both decided that this would be the perfect time to practice a montage sequence and therefore carried out a photo reccie of me walking up to and getting into the car. We felt that these photos, once edited, could prove to be valid research.

It was also our intention on this reccie to come up with interesting hooks, so I used my camera to take photos of different shots that we felt were unusual yet intriguing...

RC - Album cover analysis: The Kooks - 'Konk'

I have chosen to analyse this album cover because I am not only attracted to the appealing aesthetics of this cover but I also recognise that the band, The Kooks, is of an indie genre similar to The Enemy.

Typical conventions of an 'indie' album cover normally include abstract, artistic images, which provide ambiguous meanings, so from this point of view this album cover can be considered as unconventional of the indie genre. This is supported by the presence of the artists' on this cover, as it is generally perceived that artists of the indie genre do not like to appear on their album covers. I believe that this is because they like to keep up the pretence of being more about the music, as most indie artists feel that featuring on their own covers' portrays them as being too concerned over the construction of their star persona. However, it appears that The Kooks are happy to feature on their own album; this can either suggest that they are concerned about the commercial side and therefore want to be recognised, or either, they simply feel that appearing on their own album cover is another artistic device that can relate to the indie genre.

The use of linguistic signs on this album cover imply a small number of things; where the two words 'The Kooks' come together to create the name of the band. This name could signify a few meanings, with the word 'the' being used to dominate presence (due to it being perceived as a superior word), as it suggests the opening of an article, or something of a similar importance. The use of the word 'Kooks' has quite a harsh effect, with the letter 'k' supporting this, as you almost spit out this letter, however, the use of the letter 'o' conveys more of a softer tone, as it has been used twice in this word but also next to one another; giving the word a more prolonged effect, which contrasts with the short, sharp impact of the letter 'k'. The word 'Kooks' can be viewed as a quirky way of spelling cook, giving the image of someone preparing a hot meal. However, I feel that this has no relevance at all to the band and therefore a more likely interpretation of this word is likely to be influenced by the definition of the word 'kook', which is described on www.definitions.net as,

'someone regarded as eccentric or crazy and standing out from a group'

This characterisation of the word works perfectly for this band, as bands who are categorised as 'indie' are labelled as being individualistic, mainly because of the word indie meaning independent. The addition of the letter 's' at the end of the word 'kook' implies more than one of, which relates strongly to the fact that these artists are a band and therefore each and every one of them is 'eccentric' and 'crazy'.

The word 'Konk', forms the title of the band's album, and has a similar effect as the word 'Kooks', primarily because of the use of the letters 'k' and 'o', which give contrasting effects (mentioned above). I researched this word and it appeared to have no real meaning, which I found is because this band chose it due to it being the name of the place where they recorded this album. When I read the work 'Konk, it reminds of words such as honk, and plonk, which are words that have an onomatopoeic effect to them, as they imitate the source of sound that they describe. The actions of 'honking' and 'plonking' are quite heavy actions and can imply anger or frustration. However, I feel that this interpretation of mine has no real relevance to the title of this album, and therefore I think that the word 'Konk' is not meant to have a considerable amount of connotations, as the band simply chose it for personal reasons.

The iconic signs evident on this album cover create a polysemic effect, as each sign offers a wide range of semiotics. The contrast of light on this cover signifies what is the most important element, where it seems the band themselves are being spotlighted, whilst the background is black giving very dark connotations. The appearance of the band's album title on this cover has a retro/80s feel to it, as the words are presented in a neon style, a style which is representative of the 80s. It seems that the colour of the these words, which is blue, is being used to segregate the words from the rest of the aesthetics of the cover, and the glow of the blue colour illuminates the band members. The band themselves seem to be standing in close proximity with each other, which suggests that they are close friends, therefore further supporting the independent streak to being indie. This is because independent artists more commonly form their own band themselves and do not rely on manufactured shows such as the 'X Factor'. The band members are all wearing informal styled clothes, which gives a relaxed impression and that 'star image' is not an important factor. Their clothes are very typical of the indie genre, with the colours ranging from brown, green and black but with all of them wearing a white t-shirt, strengthening the band's bond again as they all linked by the colour of their shirts. The body language of each member is very casual with none of them looking directly into the eye of the camera, implying that each of them have a nonchalant attitude. This once again establishes their lack of concern over their image, supporting Dyer's theory, to some extent, because he states that a star is not a person but an image that is constructed out of a range of materials, such as advertising, which seems to be a factor that The Kook's agree with.

There seems to be no obvious non-representational graphic signs on the cover, as on this particular image I have there is no bar code of parental advisory sign(s).

The juxtaposition of the text to the images is one that seems to follow one straight path, as when I look at the cover my eyes tend to follow the text from the top right to the text that is positioned slightly lower and more to the right and then eventually reaching the image of the band members. It is clear that the band is keen for their name to be received by their audience first, so that this is the first thing that they consume. This way of determining what the reader is going to see first amplifies the power that this band has in controlling audience consumption. The formula of signs is quite generic, where they relate to each other as what would be perceived in an 'ordinary' way, as most indie bands are quite authentic in terms of their music and its promotion. However, the inclusion of the neon lights has a sort of futuristic, techno vibe to it, a vibe that most indie bands do not seek to include, with reference to this it would seem that this album cover could also be considered as 'extraordinary'.

The social myths that this album cover draws upon can be considered by some people as post-modern, as it can be viewed that this indie band is breaking the rules and not conforming to their genre by including the neon lights. It is also post-modern in the way that audiences' can construct their on image through the consumption of this text, which is supported by the fact that the band is present on their album cover, making it easier for audiences to access and be inspired from the band's personal image. The fact that the band is present on their cover can be denoted as a way of them conforming to some stereotypes of popular culture, as most bands of this genre use art as a way of designing their covers to appeal to the fact that they are more about the music than the band image an ideal that 'The Kooks' have not followed themselves due to their presence on the cover, which is something that most pop artists commonly do as well.

RC - Digipak: what is it?

A Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging..
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Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak is often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot" rather than a full plastic tray.

Example:












6 panel right-tray clear gloss UV digipak

JM - Analysing an Album Cover

For my analysis of an album cover I have chosen Kasabian's 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'



Step 1:

• Iconic signs: The enitre band are featured on the fron cover, looking into a mirror (notion of looking) that reflects their gaze directly back out at the audience (non-diegetic gaze). Each member is in costume, Tom (on the left) is dressed as a regal military general, Serge (to his right) is dressed as a priest, Ian (far right) appears to be dressed as a prince and Chris (sitting down) appears to be dressed as a shrink, or possibly a writer. Each member is holding an item; Tom a bottle, Serge what seems to be dagger, Ian a large golden ball and Chris a book.


• Linguistic signs: The only text that appears on the front cover of this album is the band name 'Kasabian'. It is situated at the bottom of the text, stretched across the width in large, red capitals.

Step 2:

Due to the lack of text on the page it is very difficult to make links between the visuals and the text. The picture of the band looking out of the text anchors the linguistics of 'KASABIAN' as we can relate the fact that the band are called Kasabian and therefore the people on the front cover must be Kasabian.

Step 3:

By using the band on the front cover it makes them easily identifiable. It builds their star image and shows us characteristics of the band. We can see that they are in costume, these costumes are outrageous and very distinguished, they do not conform to the stereotypical characteristics of the modern rock band. We would expect to see the band in jeans and other forms of casual clothing yet we see them in these costumes. This presents the idea to those who view the album cover that Kasabian are a very outrageous and unique band.

Having done some research into the album cover, it appears that the meaning behind the visuals are that each band member are in the 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' mentioned in the album title (although not on the album cover) and they are dressing up for some kind of event. This would explain the lack of correlation in the costumes, there appears to be no set theme among them.

Step 4:

The indexical sign of this print text is that Kasabian are a very outrageous and 'out there' band. They like to see themselves as unique and different and project this in their star image in order for them not to conform to the stereotypical themes and appearance of the modern rock band. This therefore shows that any people who buy this product or associate themselves with this product are also seen, or see themselves, as outrageous and different. The album cover allows the audience to fit the same persona that Kasabian are defining and applying to themselves.

CH - Technical shot ideas presentation for pitch

Pitch shot ideas

View more presentations or Upload your own.

The notes below are the rough script for our pitch presentation.

Shot one
1st attempt over the shoulder was a very difficult shot, however it gives the audience the perspective from both the driver and the passenger which makes them feel included
2nd attempt from passenger seat, a much easier shot technically with a better effect- the audience are voyeuristic as they are indulging in the notion of looking (A.Goodwin theory)
3rd/4th attempt far easier shots technically, further voyeurism but very gender-specific shots as it is the male gaze watching a woman in a fetishistic way (Laura Mulvey theory)

Shot two
1st attempt addressing one major problem we faced, lighting; how to make it interesting over a long period of time.
2nd attempt Loved this shot- very easy to do with a great effect very aesthetically pleasing

Shot three
1st attempt addressing the problem of lighting further. shots working with the available light potraying characters in different fashions. Very easy shot, great effect. Connotations of rebellion; rich in rebellion motifs- breaking the rules, 'radical behaviour'.
Aesthetically very pleasing and still involving the audience as it breaks the fourth wall
2nd attempt very different shot but the same effects using lighting, a very interesting shot

Shot five
In research we looked at different 'filler' shots that add connotations such as ONE (your name)
showing the RPM and Mileometre is connoting fast, dangerous actions, further rebellion motifs and an interesting shot aesthetically.

CH - Rekkie proposal

Tonight, Rosie and I plan to drive to Hastings to complete another location rekkie.

Recently, Rosie partook in a location rekkie to Hastings alone (evidence right.) She took some really useful photographs, and from them drew invaluable conclusions (such as the appropriacy of a shot we had planned for our pitch)

After this, Rosie and I decided to conduct another rekkie to evaluate the proposal of a car scene (see rekkie evaluation below). This rekkie was not only great fun but also very useful; we have now got a wealth of video that we can use to discuss in our pitch as well as use in our video should need be.
However, tonight Rosie and I have planned to combine these two rekkies before our pitch. After deciding that Hastings is a very probable location, we discussed the pros and cons of another reccie; eventually, we came to the conclusion that as much research as possible could only benefit our project.

The aims of our reccie are:

1. to assess the aesthetic location
2. to assess the feasability of the concept in this location
3. to gather more footage for our pitch
4. to gather more footage (theoretically) for our video
5. to practice filming on location

Group - to do list for pitch

1. Get photographs of Caseys house CASEY
2. Get photographs/film of Hastings (bring props!) GROUP
3. Get photographs of pub GROUP
4. Get photographs of band hall GROUP
5. Get photographs of drama studio GROUP
6. Get actors for band (musicians) GROUP
7. Get two male actors for characters GROUP
8. Get photographs of costumes ROSIE
9. Gather photos from old houesparties as reference GROUP
10. Edit the reccie shots CASEY
11. Finish audience research/compile research/gather conclusions GROUP

Above is a to-do list for our research work in preperation for our pitch, and who each point is concerning.
We plan to conduct our pitch on Powerpoint Presentations; this is the easiest and, as we have found in the past, most effective way of transferring our ideas as a proposal that can be understood.

CH - Analysis of representation and ideology

Analysis of representation and ideology within our genre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmLCONCBME&ob=av2e

The Metros - Education PT 2

By analyzing representation in videos of the same genre, we can gain a better idea about the appropriacy of our own concept.

I chose this video not only because it is a good example of the Indie genre, but also because it appeals to me as I am the target audience; I personally love the characterization of the band in this video, as I find it amusing and entertaining. In this video I will be specifically analysing the representation and ideology construed within it.

Watching this video, the predominant ideology that is being construed is the cult of youth. It is construed by the frequent icons present throughout this video; an example, right, of students scrawling on the walls of their school; or above, of the band themselves, acting foolish and pulling childish faces in a school photograph. These are all icons of rebellion and anarchistic behaviour, which conform to the stereotypes surrounding teenagers and indie bands alike. There are many audience readings of this ideology; the target audience, teenagers, could read it as an amusing representation or almost reflection of their own lives. On the other hand, it could be read as an exaggeration and emphasis of a title many teenagers resent being labelled with. It is conventional in indie music videos to include rebellion motifs, to build on their meta-narrative as independant, free individuals. However, by including so many of these icons, The Metros are in fact conforming to popular culture by following their conventions 'word for word' and only acting as they are expected to do so. Here, teenagers are only represented as rude, uncaring, immature individuals. I find this amusing, as it is teenagers representing themselves as stereotypically as adults would.
Most of the shots used in this video are CUs or MSs. This is interesting, because star persona is created in many mainstream videos through the use of meat shots (or frequent CUs/ECUs of the band during first person mode of address) and indie bands are more commonly known for conceptual based videos with as little meat shots as possible (so as to differentiate themselves from the 'manufactured' music scene, to fit with their image of being 'free' and 'individual'). However, in this case the use of CUs and MSs are almost comedic in nature, as although The Metros are breaking the fourth wall (therefore including the audience) as most pop stars would do so, they do so with ridiculous expressions on their faces (see above/top right). Therefore, rather than building a serious narrative fuzz around the use of frequent meat shots, The Metros are using these conventions of pop videos to convey connotations of rebellion and freedom, icons of the indie genre. By using icons from other genres in a playful manner, The Metros are an example of postmodernism.

The use of Mise-en-scene in this video is interesting, as they conform to the one of two indie costume conventions. The first being to dress ridiculously, completely disregarding 'fashion' and popular culture, a sense of individualization that in fact plays on Goodwins theory of PSUEDO-individualization, as many indie bands use this technique therefore they are in fact conforming rather than contrasing. The second, present here, is the use of 'ordinary' clothes, clothes unrecognisable to that worn by the general public from day-to-day. This is in purposeful juxtaposition of the star image created in pop videos, where performers attempt to be ordinary yet extraordinary, in order to be relatable by the audience yet unreachable as a celebrity so worth money and attention. Indie bands such as The Metros use ordinary clothing, such as the plain black jackets, t-shirts and jeans worn above, clothing conventions that date back to the birth of indie from punk and british rock (see earlier research). This is another rebellion motif, as they are reinforcing the dominant belief that youth are almost always unwilling to adhere to the rules of adults.

When considering this research into representation and ideology, I think there are many things we could use in our own video; I personally love the use of comedic meat shots, as this appeals to me as a wonderfully amusing way to break conventions.

CH - Analysis of an indie text (1)

This is the cover for the album Antidotes by the indie pop band The Foals. The Foals are a prominent indie influence, with many hits inlcuding Cassius and Balloons that gathered unusual recognition for an independant band.

This text is a perfect example of indie culture and has in itself become an indie cultural icon; the contrast of pastel colours (beige, grey and green) with the bright, vibrant graphic design is a technique used to draw attention; here, the very archaic style of drawing of the face is in juxtaposition to the imprinted pattern of the mouth; old and new, traditional and technologically advanced. This is playing on ideas of postmodernism, where there is no boundaries and no real reason behind actions, after the Modernist revolution of the late 1900s where art lost all reason and strayed from the traditional masters to a new, free art and the rise of movements such as Pop Art and Art Deco, after both World Wars and the Spanish Civil War. This album would be considered postmodern because there seems to be little actual link between the imagery and the product; there is nothing identifying this as an album. Like Warhols work turning advertisements into artwork, here there is no iconography that would be recognisable as an advertisement, rather it resembles a piece of artwork. By not having a photograph of the band, they are adhering to indie stereotypes by trying to be different and against the mark, therefore actually being similar to other indie bands as they were trying to prevent. However, it could also be construed that by putting an image of what could be medical pills in a mouth, the artists are trying to convey that the Foals are an antidote to whatever ill they consider. This could be a rather odd piece of evidence for a theory portrayed by Theo Adorno, who believed that capitalist society is false, using popular cultrue (art, music, etc) to control the masses in believing they should be content with their life yet still crave the mass-produced goods of the media conglomerates. Using Adorno's theory we could read that The Foals are trying to sooth the audience from whatever ill they may be suffering from, may it be poor economy or being overworked under a capitalist governments regime, therefore by purchasing their CD they will be cured by the Foals Antidote.

CH - Audience research sample

To begin our audience research, I decided to take a sample of our target audience answering the questions we proposed.
Below is the raw data we took from 3 participants.
Did you like the track? why/why not?
1. It is so-so, I know the band but this is not their best piece. A bit rude.
2. Yes, I love this song!
3. Sounds like a riff from The Arctic Monkeys, it was good
Which age range would you typically associate with this song?
1. 11-18 years
2. 17-26 years
3. 15-25
What clothes do you associate with this genre?
1. Crumpled suits
2. Indie/Emo style
3. Indie clothing
How would you picture the band/lead singer from an aesthetic point of view?
1. Lost and confused, a typical teenager
2. Indie
3. Sort of grubby, unshaven, maybe northern
Would you consider a narrative or a performance for this video?
1. Narrative as opposed to performance
2. Performance indispersed with narrative
3. Narrative with some performance aspects
If performance, where and what type?
1. Interpretive dancing, conceptual movements
2. Dirty, grungy, grimy; a performance like a concert
3. no performance
If narrative, how many locations?
1. 2 or so main locations, with a few others for change
2. One for each character
3. Four or so to keep things interesting
If narrative, what sort of locations?
1. Grubby, inner-city, urban
2. a car, a journey
3. varius locations; urban and rural

In conclusion, from this preliminary audience research we can discern that our idea fits the audience reading; our concept is appropriate and the song has so far been well recieved.
However, to discern any useable statistical informatin we will need to have a far larger focus group.

CH - Rekkie evaluation

On Saturday night, Rosie and I completed a rekkie. After near-finalizing some of our concept ideas, we decided to try a couple for feasability reasons; should they prove to be impossible or not create the prefferred aesthetic we will have to change our concept.
One of the main problems with our concept was the car scenes. Rosie completed some earlier research on scenes shot in cars, and concluded that POV shots worked well. As a result of this we also decided to focus specifically on POV shots during our rekkie.

Rekkie Aims

1. To assess the feasibility of a car scene.
2. To compile a list of useful camera shots specific to a car scene
3. To assess whether a car scene would fit our concept
4. To experiment with camera shots/concept ideas/acting plans
5. To have a wealth of footage to use in the event of an emergency (technical problems meaning we lost portions of our main footage, we could attempt an interchange)

Conditions
The weather was cloudy and overcast, with intermittant rain throughout the 2 hour rekkie; this was both an advantage and a disadvantage because the weather provided a darker aesthetic in juxtaposition to the brightly lit, colourful scenes we have planned to accompany it; in retrospect, this could be useful. A disadvantage however was the use of cameras became significantly limited as it was dangerous to risk such equipment in these conditions: we were unable to complete/redo certain shots as the weather had become impossible.
Method
For our rekkie we had three people in the car; Rosie, our colleague Martje and I. Rosie was the driver, as she has planned to be in our film; Martje and I both played acting roles, although I spent the majority of the time filming. Rosie and I both directed this rekkie, with previous planned help from Josh (such as the input of specific shots he wanted us to try).
As Rosie drove, I filmed the three of us in many different shot-types, locations and angles. Below is a basic list of a couple of the shots we completed;

• CU of all actors involved (profile)
• CU of actors involved bar Rosie (face on)
• MS of all actors involved (profile)
• MS of all actors involved (face on, camera placed on the dashboard)
• CU of specific components (eyes in the wing mirror, hand on the gearstick)
• Over the shoulder mid shot of the road
• MS of the road from the POV of a passenger
• CU of the driver/passenger from the profile (camera positioned parrallel to the car)
• MS of actors in different lighting/positions (eg. leaning out the window, looking out the back window)

Conclusion
I thoroughly enjoyed this rekkie. The atmosphere was happy, excited, giving exactly the aesthetic of a 'good night out' which would appeal to our target audience (teenagers/young adults).

From this rekkie we have decided that a car scene would be entirely feasable, and would definitely fit our concept. Even though it was time consuming and difficult at moments, it was enjoyable and gave the results we were hoping for.
From this rekkie we have compiled a workable list of shots and have an example of how these shots will appear. We also know which shots will not work well. An example of this is the POV shot; it was extremely difficult to achieve a believable POV shot, and when it was achieved the aesthetic was tacky and amateurish. However, some of the POV shots from different angles (for instance, the camera positioned to film the reflection of an actor) worked reasonably well, save for some technical difficulties that would by solved by the presence of other actors in the car.
From this rekkie we have gained nearly 50 shots of usable footage over the course of 2 hours. As soon as possible, we shall edit these rekkie shots into a video to aid our research and (eventually) our pitch.